The IFPI and mediocre artists around the world are rubbing their hands in glee, after a proposal to extend copyright in the EU for another 45 years. The proposal, intended to benefit musicians
, comes up for a vote on Wednesday. On the plus side, at the same time collecting societies are going to have their practices scrutinised
After a frustrating few months of searching for a solution to the audio problems he encountered while ripping on-screen video with his Dell laptop, a ripten editor discovered that others were experiencing the same issue — and that the problem was not confined to Dell laptops. Apparently, the lack of a sound card Stereo Mix recording option is to blame — and numerous forum threads have suggested that the RIAA has put pressure on laptop manufacturers like Dell, Gateway and Pac Bell to remove it — via Gizmodo
The International Music Score Library Project has re-opened to the public for good after a 10-month hiatus. All the news updates in the interim can be found linked to the main page. They take great pride in re-opening as it demonstrates their willpower to make the masterpieces of history free to the world; and moreover to make manifest that they will not be bullied by publishers sporting outrageous claims of copyright in a country where they clearly are expired — via Slashdot
Don Davis, who played the cantankerous father-figure of the Stargate SG-1, Major General George Hammond, passed away on 29 June. Davis’ last Stargate appearance will be in the DVD movie Stargate: Continuum
Apple will roll out movie sales on the Australian version of the iTunes store within the next month, with ISP iiNet hoping unmetered downloads will provide a download bonanza
The BBC has taken control of UK TV, buying Foxtel’s remaining 60 per cent stake and the production company FremantleMedia’s 20 per cent for an undisclosed sum. The BBC will add Children’s channel, CBeebies, by mid 2009. Such a move could potentially putting it in direct competition with ABC3 if that should ever eventuate. Foxtel will also roll out a new documentary channel, BBC Knowledge
Apple iTunes users in Australia can now buy television shows — some of which have long been offered for free elsewhere — for the first time at $2.99 each, but unlike overseas there are no discounts for buying full seasons. After a protracted tussle with local networks and the studios for rights to distribute episodes to Australians via the internet, Apple has secured deals with the ABC and Nine networks in Australia, as well as Disney, ABC and MTV in the US
George Carlin, who died of heart failure Sunday at 71, leaves behind not only a series of memorable routines, but a legal legacy: His most celebrated monologue, a frantic, informed riff on those infamous seven words, led to a Supreme Court decision on broadcasting offensive language
The encyclopaedia Britannica web site is rolling out a new system allowing readers to potentially contribute to articles. Britannica has long been a vocal critic of Wikipedia’s user-generated content, and has repeatedly attacked the accuracy of its articles. Unsurprisingly then, it is keen to stress that its new web site will not be following the Wiki-model, describing it as a collaborative process but not a democratic one
. Indeed, under the new Britannica scheme those who wish to contribute will need to create a profile outlining their qualifications and expertise in the area they are commentating on. They will then be able to add comments to encyclopaedia entries, or write their own. This content will then be reviewed by the expert editors of the site, and if any of it is deemed worthy of inclusion, added to the main article with a credit
Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered serious flaws in the way that the copyright cartel’s enforcers detect and complain about copyright infringement. The methods used by these enforcers are so sloppy that they sent a DMCA takedown notice to three campus laser-printers, alleging that the inanimate objects were downloading Iron Man and Indiana Jones. And yet these companies expect universities to take their notices seriously and spend their operating capital chasing down every wild accusation they make — via Boing Boing
Austar has flagged it could open its service to allow access to any video content from the internet through its next-generation set-top box. A high-definition version of the company’s MyStar digital video recorder — which was first launched in March — is due out in the second half of next year, containing a USB port and an internet port
Russell T Davies is to step down as executive producer of Doctor Who, the BBC has announced. Davies is credited with breathing new life into the show he brought back to television screens in 2005. Bafta-winning writer Steven Moffat will succeed Davies as lead writer and executive producer of the fifth series of Doctor Who
A Minnesota woman ordered to pay $222,000 in the first music download trial in the United States may get another chance with a jury. The issue is whether record companies have to prove anyone else actually downloaded their copyrighted songs, or whether it is enough to argue that a defendant made copyrighted music available for copying
The rock act Nine Inch Nails is offering its new album, The Slip
, through its Web site for free. This appears to be the first time a superstar act has distributed an entire album without any opportunity for people to pay for it
Sky One is hoping to continue the successful reinvention of the genre with a multimillion-pound remake of the 1970s British favourite Blake’s 7. The broadcaster yesterday announced that it had approved the development of two new scripts from the production company that holds the rights to the series
MP3tunes’ CEO Michael Robertson sent out an email to all users of the online music backup and place-shifting service MP3tunes.com, asking them to help publicise EMI’s ridiculous and ignorant lawsuit against the company. EMI believes that consumers aren’t allowed to store their music files online, and that MP3tunes is violating copyright law by providing a backup service
Microsoft has emailed former customers of MSN Music saying it would be turning off the DRM servers used to authorise playback of music purchased from the now-defunct MSN Music store
Both the music and movie industries see file-sharing as a very real threat to their livelihood. Their approaches to the problem have differed, however, as the RIAA has targeted individual P2P users with lawsuits while the IFPI and MPAA have chosen to go after BitTorrent sites. The MPAA has scored some high-profile victories against P2P site operators and the men behind The Pirate Bay have been indicted by Swedish prosecutors, but many observers have questioned whether the motion picture industry’s efforts are in fact backfiring, as traffic to popular BitTorrent sites and participation in swarms appears to be on the upswing
Due to server complications, CBC decided to team up with mininova and let them seed the torrent files for Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister
. It is great to see that mainstream broadcasters use BitTorrent to share their content online, and even better, that they use mininova’s content distribution platform to do so
If you buy a regular old book, CD or DVD, you can turn around and loan it to a friend, or sell it again. The right to pass it along is called the first sale
doctrine. Digital books, music and movies are a different story though. Four students at Columbia Law School’s Science and Technology Law Review looked at the particular issue of reselling and copying e-books downloaded to Amazon’s Kindle or the Sony Reader, and came up with answers to a fundamental question: Are you buying a crippled license to intellectual property when you download, or are you buying an honest-to-God book?
RSS – Posts